November 6, 2013
Allston Brighton gave a 894 vote margin to John Connolly in the race for mayor that was won by Marty Walsh. Connolly garnered 5097 votes (54.8%) to Walsh’s 4203 votes (45.2%), winning all but three of the twenty-six precincts. Walsh won three: 22-1 and 22-2 (North Allston) and 22-12 (roughly, Brighton’s Faneuil Square area), but by less than a dozen votes in each. Those narrow margins played out in many sections of the community, with Connolly only hitting 55% or above in four of Ward 22’s precincts. His margins were better in Ward 21, but even there, it was an edge of ten or fewer votes in three precincts. Usually, the residents of senior housing in Ward 21 vote en masse for one candidate, but that vote split this time.
Four years ago, Tom Menino had his worst showing in a final election in Allston Brighton. He won Ward 22 by a mere 58 votes, while Ward 21 put him up by 705, due to the big margins he racked up in any section with senior housing.
WBUR has a nifty map of yesterday’s results.
Congratulations to Marty Walsh and kudos to John Connolly for their dedication and hard work.
Posted in Allston, Brighton, Politicians, Politics |
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October 13, 2013
Spend some time Columbus Day discovering the candidates. The next mayor of Boston will be in our neighborhood tomorrow, October 14. Both Marty Walsh and John Connolly will be campaigning here. Walsh will take questions at one of his “Mondays with Marty” forums at 8 PM at the Brighton Marine Health Center, 77 Warren Street. Connolly is hosting a meet and greet from 6 to 8PM at the Stockyard Restaurant, 135 Market Street. Thanks to John Laadt of the Walsh campaign for letting me know about their event, and thanks to the Hobart Neighborhood Association for their tip about the Connolly appearance.
Posted in Allston, Brighton, Politicians, Politics |
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October 9, 2013
Charlie Vasiliades, also known as the Mayor of Oak Square, was interviewed by WBUR about the race to replace that other mayor, Menino. Charlie brought up all the points that are important to the entire Allston Brighton community, as well those specific to Oak Square. Keeping the square’s library and fire station open, the need for quality schools to keep families, the plague of poorly maintained, absentee-owned property that afflicts the neighborhood.
In the last few days canvassers for both John Connolly and Marty Walsh were on my doorstep, Marty represented by his cousin. I raised the issue of keeping the Faneuil library branch open. It would be great if the two candidates could address this.
Posted in Allston, Brighton, Oak Square, Politicians |
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August 20, 2013
Recently, just before 9PM, I received a call that plumbed my concerns, biases and opinions about the mayoral race. It was a quite detailed inquiry that lasted more than twenty minutes. Most of the questions were in regard to education and charter schools, with what seemed to be a bias against raising the charter school cap and devoting more money to them. The company did not identify who they were polling for. I was given a choice of five candidates to vote for, Conley, Golar-Richie, Arroyo, Connolly and Walsh. I declared myself undecided, even though that was not an offered option. There were some questions that seemed to be anti-John Connolly, although it could also have been his campaign testing how attacks on his pro-charter school stance might affect his support.
Posted in Politicians, Politics, Public schools |
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July 23, 2013
Below is the list of all candidates for mayor of Boston. Click on a name to get to the campaign website. David James Wyatt does not seem to have a web presence, and Charles Yancey only posts a site for his city council campaign (yes, he is running for re-election as the Mattapan district councilor as well as for mayor.) Read up and make your decision. Not all that much time left before the preliminary election on Tuesday, September 24. You may not get a chance like this for another twenty years.
Felix Arroyo, Jr.
John F. Barros
Charles L. Clemons, Jr.
Dan Conley
John Connolly
Robert Consalvo
Charlotte Golar-Richie
Michael Ross
Bill Walczak
Martin Walsh
David James Wyatt
Charles Yancey
Posted in Politics |
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July 21, 2013
Felix Arroyo will be at the Oak Square Dunkin Donuts the morning of Monday, July 21 from 7:30 to 9 to meet residents and speak about his campaign for mayor.
Posted in Allston, Brighton |
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July 21, 2013
Did I post too soon? A mayoral race that has been somnolent locally has now shown signs of life. The Ward 21 Democratic Committee has endorsed City Councilor Michael Ross for mayor. Ross currently represents District 8, comprised of Beacon Hill, Back Bay, Fenway and Mission Hill. A mayoral forum sponsored by a plethora of local groups (Allston Board of Trade, Brighton Board of Trade, Brighton Allston Improvement Association) will be held at WGBH this Tuesday night. Today, Representative Marty Walsh of Dorchester opened a campaign office in Oak Square. John Connolly, currently a city-wide councilor, is hosting a meet and greet this Thursday. And finally, a volunteer for City Councilor and mayoral aspirant Felix Arroyo, Jr. informs me she knocked on my door when I wasn’t home and left literature that I must have missed. So things are happening, but the general topic is still the heat of the summer rather than the political temperature.
Posted in Allston, Brighton |
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